Magnetation successfully produced its first iron ore concentrate at its new Plant Four, located near Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Magnetation said the new plant has begun operations one quarter ahead of schedule and three quarters ahead of the original project schedule.
The Plant Four design and construction effort is one of the finest project executions I have seen in my 40 years in the industry. Despite significant weather and engineering challenges, the Plant Four team along with our contractor partners has achieved first concentrate production less than ten months after the first concrete pour. The project was completed in world class speed with no lost time accidents, said Larry Lehtinen, CEO of Magnetation. Plant Four will be our largest concentrate production plant and we expect that it will also be our lowest cost concentrate operation. We anticipate it being a flagship operation providing high-paying jobs on the Iron Range for many decades to come.
Plant Four will have a production capacity of 2.0Mt of concentrate per year once it is fully operational. The iron ore concentrate from Plant Four will supply Magnetations new pellet plant facility located in Reynolds, Indiana, which began operating in September 2014.